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Aegis Semiconductor Awarded Patents for Tunable Optical Filter and Package

Posted on: Tuesday, 11 April 2006, 12:00 CDT

Aegis Semiconductor, a leader in cost-effective optical channel monitors for fiber-optic communication networks, today announced that it has been granted two patents by the U.S. Patent Office entitled "Tunable Optical Instruments" (US Patent No. 7,002,697) and "Package for Optical Components" (US Patent No. 6,985,281). These patents cover the design of thermo-optically tunable thin-film interference filters and a fiber-optic enclosure for these filters based on the low-cost transistor outline (TO) assembly package.

Thermo-optically tunable thin-film filters form the basis of Aegis' Active Thin Films(TM) technology platform, which is ideally suited to serve today's rapidly growing market for low-cost DWDM channel monitoring. Optical monitoring is ubiquitous in optical communication networks; however, it is primarily limited to detecting the composite optical signal with a simple photodetector. By adding Active Thin Films technology within the photodetector enclosure, Aegis' solutions enable full spectrum analysis of DWDM signals within the same compact package.

"We are proud to receive these two patents, which reflect our core competency and reaffirm our mission to enable intelligence and flexibility in DWDM optical networks through the use of cost-effective tunable thin-film technology," said Don Bossi, President and CEO, Aegis Semiconductor. "Since its inception five years ago, the Active Thin Films platform has evolved to reach maturity, as evidenced by on-going large-scale deployments in communications service-provider networks."

Key advantages of the Active Thin Films platform include:

-- Volume fabrication by the thousands per wafer, dramatically reducing the cost per device compared to other existing technologies.

-- Fully automated characterization of each tunable thin-film filter element while in wafer form, significantly reducing test time and material handling.

-- Low-cost assembly using the commodity TO package, the most widely deployed hermetic package in the fiber-optics industry.

-- Solid-state reliability of a silicon-based design with no moving parts, proven to meet telecom reliability standards by passing a full suite of mechanical and endurance stress tests as well as accelerated aging tests, based on Telcordia GR-468-CORE.

The Active Thin Films technology platform is the basis for Aegis' low-cost channel monitor products, which have gained wide acceptance in DWDM fiber-optic communications networks, fueled by service provider deployments of Re-configurable Optical Add-Drop Multiplexer (ROADM) systems, multi-haul (or multi-reach) DWDM systems and transparent optical network architectures that support third party (or "alien") wavelengths.

About Aegis Semiconductor

Aegis Semiconductor is a privately held company that builds cost-effective solutions for intelligent optical networks. Based on its Active Thin Films(TM) technology, Aegis is the first company to deliver low-cost wavelength-monitoring components and modules that are easily manufactured using proven methods from the semiconductor industry. Aegis has raised more than $30 Million in funding from leading investors and venture capitalists including Vesbridge Partners, Alta Partners, Technology Venture Partners and Megunticook Management. The company is located in Woburn, Massachusetts, USA. More information can be viewed at www.aegis-semi.com.

Source: Business Wire

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